Know if your church is not a cult: how to identify religious cults

Salvation Press News (SPN), HARARE. – There are varied meanings of cults that are generally accepted globally. When the word cult is mentioned, people usually perceive it as a group that worships Satan, sacrifices animals, or partake in in evil, bizarre, and pagan rituals.

Contrary, most cults appear much more innocent. A precise example to emphasise this is the Jim Jones cultic movement in Guyana, which eliminated many lives after a cultic doctrine that promised devotees to march to ‘heaven’ after a mass suicides.

Know if your church is not a cult: how to identify religious cults

The circular definition of cults It is any religious worshiping that is involved in any ritual, emotions and attitudes. This definition qualifies all religious denominations as cults. Christian definitionIn the Christian perception, a cult is a section that diverts from biblical, orthodox and historical Christianity perceptive. For example, they deny the deity of Christ, his physical resurrection and personal and physical return to earth, and or salvation of devotees by faith only.

Universal definitionIt says a cult is any authoritarian leadership structure; one person is in control. Teaching always comes from a single person.

Other definition It is “a religious group that denies one or more of the fundamentals of biblical truth.” In short, a cult is a group that teaches something that will cause a person to remain unsaved if he/she believes it. As distinct from a religion, a cult is a group that claims to be part of the religion, yet denies essential fundamentals of that religion. A Christian cult is a group that denies one or more of the essential truths of Christianity, while still claiming to be Christian.What is this series purpose? In this series on religious cults, the Salvation Press News will create an informed awareness that cultic movements really exist. We also seek to show the genuine level of commitment embedded within sects that usually surpasses so-called ‘genuine churches and believers’ in enforcing their principles, such as tithing and sacrifice. – Salvation Press News (SPN).